Kristin Walker, BSN, RN, PMGT-BC

Staff Nurse 4-P Pain Management

I was born in Louisville, Ky. After several moves to different states while I was growing up, I ended up back in Kentucky at the University of Louisville where I received my BSN degree in 1995. I met my husband Brian while in nursing school and moved to Columbia, Mo in 1995. We married in 1997 and have two daughters, Alexis 22, and Brooke 20. In July of 2022, I became the first nurse at Boone Health to obtain a certification in Pain Management.

Why did you get into the health care field?

I think healthcare was in my blood. My father is an OB/GYN, my mother is a registered nurse, and my stepmother was a nurse practitioner. I can remember working at my father’s private practice right out of high school and knew then that I wanted to pursue nursing.

What interested you in your particular specialty?

I started my first nursing job at Boone Hospital in 1995 and worked Neurology/Orthopedics. From there I worked in PACU for 4 years. I started working with Donald Meyer, MD in Pain Management in 2003 and have worked with him ever since.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the patients who are having such severe pain get better with our treatments. I love the relationships that I have formed with our patients through the years.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Sometimes not all treatments are successful for patients, so that can be a challenge to try and “figure out” the best treatment plan.

What has changed in your field since you started practicing?

I started in Pain Management in a private practice, then integrated to a Surgery Center, and for the past 6 years, have been back at Boone Hospital with two physicians and two nurse practitioners. There are new techniques and procedures that have evolved in the past 21 years.

What do you see changing in the next 5 to 10 years?

I would predict that insurance companies are going to put even more constraints on what they deem acceptable, making it more difficult for patients to obtain quality care for their pain complaints.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy spending time with my family and our golden retriever, Nala. My youngest daughter goes to college out of state and runs track and cross country, so we travel as much as possible to see her compete. My oldest daughter recently graduated from MU School of Nursing and moved to Texas, so we hope to travel to see her as well.

What advice would you give someone looking to become a nurse?

I would say, you would be getting into a field that can offer you many different types of nursing opportunities. If you love interacting and helping others, this is your calling. I love my job and especially the people I work with and would not change it at all!